Amplification and High Resolution Audio specialist Questyle Audio announced the CMA600i DAC-headphone amplifier, the newest addition to their premium audio systems at the CanJam SoCal 2016 event in Costa Mesa, California. The CMA600i is a more affordable version of their CMA800i, the integrated all-in-one DAC and Current Mode headphone amplifier and pre-amp, which inherited the patented current mode topology of the original Questyle CMA800 amplifier.

After many long hours of debugging, the CMA800, the world’s first Current Mode headphone amplifier, was born in 2007. CMA is short for Current Mode Amplification, whose THD+N is 0.0004%, and whose TIMD is so ultra low that it can hardly be tested. The CMA800 was the first Current Mode amplifier to be mass produced with excellent and stable performance and propelled Jason Wang’s company - Questyle Audio - all over the world.

The new Questyle Audio 600i DAC-headphone amplifier combo, is also a perfect complement to the company’s QP1R HRA portable music server / digital audio player, as well as their new 7.1 channel 5GHz Wireless Amplifier system, also demoed at CanJam 2016. Questyle unveiled the new CMA600i in partnership with Westone and Enigma Acoustics while the Questyle wireless system was driving the amazing ENIGMAcoustics M1 Mythology Hybrid electrostatic speaker system.

“Following the enthusiastic embrace of high resolution music and high-end headphones, consumers have flocked to Questyle Audio’s high-end components” says Bruce Ball, Vice President of Questyle North America. “The company’s new 600i integrated DAC/Amp combo creates excellent value by providing a high-end combo solution at a more modest price point. Meanwhile, Questyle is hard at work fine-tuning every aspect of our desktop system to create the new Gold Reference Edition for the audiophile who simply wants the best performance possible,” added Ball.

The Questyle Audio CMA600i Integrated Desktop DAC with Headphone Amplifier leverages Questyle’s patented Current Mode headphone amplification technology and uses a USB port that adopts a unique 3X Clock structure. This ensures a proper sync with the premium AK4490 32-bit DAC chipset from AKM. The chipset includes a newly developed switch capacitor filter “OSR Doubler” that greatly reduces sound degradation from noise shaping, achieving a flat noise floor up to 200kHz. The AK4490 chip obtains first class sound performance by also reducing jitter and pre-ringing to undetectable levels. The CMA600i also features a 4-pin balanced XLR stereo headphone output, accommodating balanced headphones with a single integrated DAC/headphone amp. The CMA600i is also equipped with XLR and RCA pre-amplifier outputs that support 24bit/192KHz transmission to a separate power amplifier, such as the new R200i wireless / wired amplifiers that accommodate balanced connection, and allows the CMA600i to act as a separate, premium DAC/Preamp. The CMA600i is available in Space Gray now for $1,299.

"The ES9028 SABRE DAC is a high-performance 32-bit digital to analog converter and uses ESS’s patented 32-bit HyperStream architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator. It is the first SABRE DAC to use ESS’s new internal dual-DAC architecture to further enhance performance. It also delivers an unprecedented dynamic range (DNR) of up to 129dB and total harmonic distortion plus noise of -120dB (THD+N) – a technical performance level that will satisfy the most demanding audio enthusiasts while still delivering the superb sound experience SABRE products are known for."